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A JAPANESE JOURNEY 



BY 

NATALIE B. GRINNELL 



NEW YORK 
UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY 

1895 



ii 



japan n~r: r ;iNCE 

LIBRARY 

NEW YORK 




i^ 5 



This edition is limited to one hundred copies, 
of which this is No.__.7_jL/. 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Frontispiece 
A Mushroom City 
Court of Grand Hotel 
Japanese Tea House 
Holiday Group 

Tea House of One Hundred Steps 
Wrestlers 
Temple Gate 
A Corner in Mito Park - 
Steps of Temple of Hachiman - 
Statue of I )ai Butsu 
Statue of Samurai 
Cherry Blossoms 
Memorial Temple 
Approach to Memorial Temple 
Minister Dun's Garden Party 
A Japanese Dinner 
Fox Shrine at Kioto - 
( )n the Road to Kinka - ■*• ' - 

Gold House at Kinka 
Pine Tree at Gold Monastery 
Woman's Fall near Kobe - 
Avenue at Nikko - 
Temple Steps 
Children's Matsuri - 



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A JAPANESE JOURNEY 

Fifteen years ago a person projecting a trip to Japan 
was regarded by his fellow-men with feelings of wonder- 
ing awe. He was a mighty traveller indeed, who had 
the courage and the time to cross the continent and 
toss for nearly three weary weeks on the bosom of the 
restless Pacific, in order to see that strange and far off 
country, at that time slowly and reluctantly opening its 
doors to the foreigner. 

In these days of rush and bustle, of short vacations 
and exact plans, of vestibuled flyers, and ocean grey- 
hounds, a trip to Japan is a very different thing. To 
the average traveller it means a swift rush across the 
country and fourteen or sixteen days of forced inactiv- 
ity, while the stately white Empress or the huge Pacific 
Mailer, steadily ploughs her way across that immense 
waste of waters known as the Pacific Ocean. Then 



A Japanese Journey 



comes a bewildering, dream-like journeying from place 
to place, each more strange and unreal than the last, so 
that when one returns to the steamer at the end of four 
weeks, it is with the feeling of having been thrown into 
an enchanted sleep, from which one wakes only when 
the long sea-wall of Yokohama fades away into the dis- 
tance. 

To the trip of which I am about to write, however, 
belongs only the dreamy sense of unreality which it 
seems to me must be left to everyone who has been to 
Japan, under no matter what circumstances. Even prac- 
tical business men going there on the most prosaic of 
errands have felt the influence of this spell, which one 
seems to breathe in with the air. 

We left New York late in December, and after a 
leisurely journey South and West, and a six weeks' quiet 
sojourn in Southern California, we found ourselves in 
Vancouver, B. C, on March 2d, with two days before 
us in which to rest before embarking on the Empress 
of China. 

The air of the Far West is filled with the sense of 



A Japanese Journey 



bustle and activity, and mushroom cities are entirely 
the rule. But Vancouver is entitled to a place in the 
first rank. Founded in 1878, it was slowly and steadily 
growing, when in 1886 a fire 'swept it from the face 
of the earth, only a solitary house being left standing. 
That blow from fate was all that was needed to inspire 
the energetic settlers ; they went to work with a will, 
and in eight years have raised from the ashes a new 
city, which bids fair to equal any on the Pacific slope. 
In point of situation it is surely unsurpassed. Snow- 
clad mountains rise frowning and severe from the clear 
waters of Burrard Inlet in front, hills guard the city from 
the too fierce blasts of the North Pacific in the rear, and 
the harbor is such a fine one that the great Canadian 
steamers come to their dock at the foot of the principal 
street of Vancouver with as much ease as a ferry-boat en- 
tering its slip. 

At 1 p.m., on Monday, March 5, 1894, the Empress 
of China cast off her lines and backed slowly out into 
mid-stream ; then the screw revolved faster, and as we 
sailed swiftly between the pine-clad, snow-topped moun- 

4 



A Japanese Journey 



tains enclosing the bay, we felt a queer thrill of excite- 
ment as we realized that we were really off for Japan. 

Of the voyage, the less said the better. It was one 
long, weary, round of bitter cold days, mountainous seas, 
head-winds, snow-squalls, and dull gray skies. We were 
most fortunate in having exceedingly charming fellow- 
voyagers, and the officers of the ship were more than 
ordinarily agreeable ; but even that did not entirely make 
up for the discomfort of the voyage, and we were most 
thankful when on Sunday, March 18th, we sighted the 
sacred island of Kinkasan. Our first view of it was at 
about eleven a.m., and we passed very close to its wood- 
ed slopes, which are inhabited only by herds of deer. I 
fancy none of the passengers slept very soundly that 
night. I know that I did not, and day had scarcely 
dawned when I scrambled out of my berth, and draw- 
ing aside my curtain peered eagerly out of the port-hole. 
And then I realized that at last we were near Japan. 
There, directly in front of me were the shadowy outlines 
of Fujiyama, its perfect snow-clad cone rising like an 
exhalation from the sombre hills about it. 

5 



Yokohama 

The sail up the bay of Tokyo is a most beautiful 
one, but there are so many novel sights close at hand 
that one fails to appreciate it the first time it is taken. 
Long before reaching our anchorage the steamer was sur- 
rounded by a fleet of queerly shaped boats called sampans, 
which are propelled by long oars wielded gondolier fashion, 
by scantily clad coolies. These men are very expert, and 
attain a speed which is surprising when one considers 
the uncouth shape of the heavy boats, and the primitive 
manner of using the oar. As the screw of the steamer 
turned more and more slowly, and finally stopped alto- 
gether at the C. P. anchorage, a number of bustling, 
panting little tugs clustered around, and with farewells 
to the officers and the few of our fellow -passengers who 
were going on to Hong-Kong, we carefully descended 
the gangway slung at the Empress' side, stepped into 

6 



Yokohama 

the Grand Hotel launch, and were puffed and bustled off 
to the landing-place or Hatoba. 

We had been warned that it would be well to at once 
declare our camera, so while some of the party started im- 
mediately for the hotel, the Doctor repaired to the Cus- 
tom-house with the camera, and I was left alone amid 
my strange surroundings. The square plaza in front of 
the landing-stage was filled with a motley crowd — Euro- 
peans and Asiatics, Japanese and Americans, and in a 
semi-circle beyond stood a perfect army of jinrikisha men, 
bowing, gesticulating, and dancing in their excited efforts 
to secure a fare. Amused and somewhat dazed by the 
crowd and the noise, and the novelty of it all; I thought 
I would step into a 'rikisha, and sit there to wait for the 
Doctor, instead of standing in the sun. So pushing my 
way through the crowd, I stepped into the first 'rikisha 
I saw, and seated myself. No sooner was I comfortably 
settled than the bearer raised the shafts and, to my hor- 
ror, began to trot away with me. I screamed at the 
man, and shrieked for the Doctor, but my cries only 
made him go the faster, and I was whirled off around 

7 



Yokohama 

the corner just as the Doctor rushed out the Custom- 
house, and gazed frantically around to discover whence 
came my despairing voice. However, my abductor bore 
me swiftly to the Grand Hotel, and he was the only 
'rikisha boy I employed during all of my stay in Yoko- 
hama. The jinrikishas are the first of the Japanese sights 
to arrest the attention of the new-comer. Invented 
some twenty-five years ago by a clever American sailor, 
they have become a part of Japan. They are low, one- 
seated vehicles, resting on two wheels, and with a pair 
of shafts in which stands a coolie instead of a horse. 
During the winter the costume of a jinrikisha boy con- 
sists of a pair of dark blue, skin tight knee-breeches, a dark 
blue shirt, a mushroom shaped hat of canvas, and a pair 
of sandals. During the summer almost all of this costume 
is dispensed with — a breech-cloth and a pair of straw san- 
dals being all that the perspiring bearers can endure. The 
sandals (waruji) are made of rice-straw, and are so inex- 
pensive that when they wear out they are simply cast 
aside in the street, and the coolie runs barefoot until he 
reaches a sandal-shop where his loss can be replaced. 

9 



A Japanese Journey 



In rainy weather the kurumaya (kuruma is the swell 
word for 'rikisha) dons a cape of plaited straw reach- 
ing to his knees, and increases the size of his hat to 
such an extent that the 'rikishas seem to be drawn by a 
mushroom-topped hay-cock with two legs. 

The city of Yokohama consists of three divisions — the 
Bluff or residential portion, the settlement where most of 
the shops both native and foreign are located, and the 
Homera, or native colony. A long sea-wall called the 
Bund extends along the harbor front, and instead of be- 
ing disfigured by docks and warehouses, it is made most 
attractive by clubs, curio shops, hotels, and a few resi- 
dences. Several canals divide the city into sections, and 
one of these canals passes close by the Grand Hotel. 
Crossing this canal by a wide bridge, one mounts a steep 
hill leading to the Bluff. Up this hill toil wearily the 
coolies, bearing brick and stone for the constantly increas- 
ing buildings, and their plaintive cry of iv Hill-1-lda." 
" Hoy-y-da," as they strain at the heavily laden wagons, 
lingers long in one's mind and heart. 

On the Bluff are the hospitals of the various nations, 

IO 



Yokohama 

a charming recreation ground, a convent, and the resi- 
dences of almost all of the foreign inhabitants of Yoko- 
hama. These latter residences are mostly built like 
bungalows — long, rambling, one -storied buildings, set 
in the midst of beautifully kept lawns and gardens, and 
almost all have a superb view of the bay and ocean. 
Beyond the Bluff, on one side curves the horse-shoe of 
Mississippi Bay, and on the land side are the well-kept 
cricket grounds, and the enclosure of the Yokohama Rac- 
ing Association. For three days during May business is 
at a standstill, shops and banks are closed, and Yokohama 
yields itself up to racing. The emperor often comes 
down from Tokyo, the streets are gayly dressed with 
flags by day and with lanterns by night, and the entire 
town is en fete. 

The Homera extends for some distance along the west 
bank of the same canal, and is a most interesting street. 
Low shops, open to the street, line it on either side, and 
it is here that one finds the umbrella makers, sandal 
makers, tortoise-shell workers, wood carvers, and wholesale 
silk merchants, who supply the goods to the retailers in 

ii 



Yokohama 

Ben ten Dori, and Honcho Don'. On the two latter 
streets one finds the curio shops, silver-smiths, linen drapers, 
and venders of silk — all the myriad magicians of Japan, 
who charm your dollars from your pockets in such a gen- 
tle and fascinating way that it is almost a pleasure to be 
robbed. 

In the larger shops, both curio and silk shops, there is a 
regular fixed price, which no amount of bargaining will 
lower. But in the smaller shops, making a purchase be- 
comes quite a serious matter. 

Whirling by in your 'rikisha, your eye catches the gleam 
of a silver chain, or detects an oddly-shaped teapot, which 
you at once feel you must have. A sharp blow on the 
shaft of the " riky," or the cry of " Mate, Mate " (stop, 
stop), brings your coolie " up standing," and you descend 
leisurely from your perambulator at the door of the shop. 
There you are received by the proprietor with manifold 
bows and bends and snake-like hisses. Then, if you are 
wise, you begin at the corner of the shop farthest from 
the object you desire, and steadily run down everything 
you see. You ask the price of a few things, affecting 

13 



A Japanese Journey 



utter scorn and contempt when the price is mentioned. 
In this way you gradually work around to the desired ob- 
ject, and ask the price with as great an air of indifference 
as you can command. When the price is named, smile 
sarcastically, and offer just half. The proprietor will bow 
again and smirk, and hiss, and mutter that it is " impos- 
sible, oh ! absolutely impossible," but in a few moments, 
as a rule, will accept the half price and be thankful to get 
it. In some of the larger curio shops, it may be necessary 
to smoke a pipe or two, and perhaps to come up in price 
a trifle as the seller comes down, but, as a rule, one should 
never pay more than half the price originally asked. 

It is very hard for the stranger to realize that the life he 
sees is the regular daily life of the people — a life as nat- 
ural to them as our shuttle-like existence is to us — and at 
first I was constantly reminded of Mark Twain's remark 
about the French : "They must be a remarkably well- 
educated people, when the babies speak French fluently." 
It seemed most wonderful to me that the Japanese could 
walk so swiftly and so well upon their awkward wooden 
shoes, until I reflected that it probably was equally amaz- 

14 



J r okohama 

ing to them that I was able to walk on high-heeled 
slippers. These wooden clogs, by the way, make a queer 
clack, clack, which will always linger in my memory as 
one of the characteristic noises of Japan. As they are 
held on by means of a velvet strap, passing between the 
great toe and the one next it, the foot is partially 
dragged along instead of being lifted, and the noise on 
the asphalt platform of a railway station, for example, 
is quite deafening. It is not so bad in the open air — 
in fact at times it is quite musical, and seems to form 
a rhythmical accompaniment to the soft chatter of the 
women and the shriller cries of the children. Many and 
many a morning have I been awakened before daylight 
by the clack, clack, clack of the wooden clogs, and the 
merry voices of the women, on their way to the tea-firing 
go-downs, and peeping through the shutters have watched 
the long procession file by. They come many weary 
miles, these poor women ; some walk eight and ten miles 
a day, starting from their hovels when the first gleam of 
dawn is seen in the East, and only returning when the 
evening is bright with stars. The latest baby goes also 

'5 




% 



Yokohama 

bound on its mother's back, and over one arm is slung 
a wooden pail filled with rice — rice, tea. and raw fish form 
ing their principal diet. 

The garb of the Japanese adult is very subdued in 
color, as a rule, and many of these peasant women wear 
a dark blue or drab kimono, and a white cotton hand- 
kerchief bound picturesquely over their smooth black 
hair. In rainy weather each woman carries a large, flat 
umbrella made of bamboo and oiled paper, and the clack 
and the chatter are as merry under these shelters as under 
the blue arch of the sky. 

The process of tea-firing is most interesting to watch. 
Each long room contains three parallel rows of firing- 
bowls. These are large iron bowls, set in a frame of brick- 
work, and under each is a charcoal fire. The tea-leaves 
are placed in these bowls, and tossed and turned by hand, 
the women working for twelve hours at a stretch, almost 
nude, and in an atmosphere heated to nearly ioo degrees. 
They use first one hand, then the other, and as the Japan- 
ese, as a rule, have beautiful hands and wrists, the process 
is very pretty to watch. When the tea has been fired to 

17 



A Japanese Journey 



the desired dryness, indigo is stirred in to give it the 
proper color, and it is transferred to huge sieves. These 
are taken to another room, and shaken and turned until 
the finer leaves are all sifted out. Then the coarser tea is 
treated to another process to deepen the color, while the 
finer is turned over to still another set of women, who 
carefully sort it by hand, picking out all the long coarse 
stalks, and finally putting the finest leaves of all into 
tin-lined and zinc-covered boxes worth almost their weight 
in gold. In former times the women worked with their 
babies on their backs, but latterly a sort of open-air creche 
has been established in each go-down. An open court 
is set aside for the babies, and here the mothers deposit 
them when they arrive, leaving them all day in the care 
of an elder brother or sister, and patiently resuming their 
burdens when the days work is done. The average pay 
of a tea-firer is the equivalent of 11.4-10 cents in gold for 
a day's work of thirteen hours, and yet these laborers 
earn enough in their four months of work to support 
themselves and their families during the rest of the year. 
Our first experience of a tea-house (which is a very 

18 



} "okohama 

different sort of place from a tea go-down) was the second 
day after our arrival. We left the hotel in 'rikishas soon 
after tiffin. By an unwritten rule of the road the 'riki- 
shas always go in single file, the most important person 
first, and the rest of the party in descending scale meekly 
following after. We whirled and rattled out of the court- 
yard, across the bridge, and along the canal for some dis- 
tance, then turned back, threaded our way along the nar- 
row dykes separating the submerged rice paddies, as- 
cended a steep hill with many grunts and groans from our 
coolies, and were finally deposited at the entrance of Tena- 
bes' tea-house, known as the "house of the ioo steps." 
It occupies a commanding position at the edge of the 
Bluff, and is approached from the city side by a flight of 
almost perpendicular stone steps, which gives it its name. 
At the door of the low, one-storied, paper screened 
house we were met by a chubby, smiling little mousmie, 
and conducted along a narrow matted passageway to a 
small square room, divided from the rest of the house by 
sliding paper screens. As soon as we were fairly inside, 
the little maiden dropped on her knees, and bade us wel- 

i9 



Yokohama 

come in many low, soft Japanese words, meanwhile smil- 
ing and touching the floor with her forehead. Then four 
square, silk-covered mats were brought forth for us to squat 
upon, and we were served with tiny cups of unsweetened 
tea and queer wafer-like cakes, which the little maid 
handed us daintily with chop-sticks. Each cake had 
printed on it Japanese characters which were supposed to 
be our fortunes. Above the sliding screens were hung 
pictures of ships of all nations, and the mousmee brought 
out for our entertainment an album filled with the cards 
and autographs of distinguished visitors from all coun- 
tries. Having added our cards to this collection we took 
our leave — a group of dainty maidens smiling and bow- 
ing, and calling soft sayonaras to us as we went. This is 
probably the best known tea-house in Japan, as the uncle 
of the present proprietor gave official welcome to Commo- 
dore Perry in 1856, and it has been the naval officers' 
rendezvous of all nations since then. A silk store in the 
settlement is also conducted by these same Tenabes, and 
Kin-san, the mother of the family, divides her time be- 
tween silk and tea. She is no longer young, but her fasci- 

21 



A Japanese Journey 



nating manners, her sweet low voice, her quick wit, and 
her knowledge of the English, French, German, and 
Russian languages, make her still one of the most charm- 
ing women in all Japan. On a subsequent visit she 
sang us songs in all these languages, playing her own 
accompaniments on the samisen, and when we rose to go 
her gentle entreaties to us to remain just a few moments 
longer, ending with the soft dozo, dozo (please, please), 
made us feel that nothing would be lovelier than to cast - 
from us all thoughts of our western home, and to re- 
main forever like the lotus-eaters in this " land where 
it is always afternoon." 

One feature of life in Japan, and one of which it 
seems I should never tire, is going about in 'rikishas 
after dark. When twilight falls each kurumaya brings 
out his long paper lantern, inscribed with his name and 
number in many flourishing characters, lights the long 
candle, and suspends the lantern from the left-hand shaft 
of the vehicle. A large party of us went out after dinner, 
a day or two after our arrival. With many shouts and 
cries, and much good-natured rivalry as to fares and 

22 



J r okohama 

precedence, the long line of 'rikishas got under way, and 
we clattered out of the noise and electric-lighted glare of 
the hotel court into the quiet and moonlit darkness of the 
narrow Yokohama streets. The soft rose-tinted lanterns 
swayed with the coolies' trot like pendulous drops of 
light, and the warning cry, oye-oye, as we turned corners 
sounded like the plaintive note of some night bird. We 
wound in and out of the streets, and presently came upon 
the watch, a queer, gnome-like creature, dressed in a 
long, dark gown and huge mushroom hat, carrying an 
oblong " lanthorn " in one hand, and in the other a long 
iron bar, with which he beat the stones to warn evil-doers 
of his approach. He stood aside to let us pass, holding 
his queer light up that he might see our faces, which 
peered wonderingly at him out of the gloom ; then we 
whirled around another corner — and. presto ! we were in 
fairy-land. 

Imagine a broad, mile-long street, lined on either side 
with low one-storied shops, entirely open to the street, 
lit by brilliantly colored paper lanterns, swaying from 
graceful bamboo poles, and filled with a dense crowd 





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Yokohama 

of laughing, chattering, merry makers, and you have 
'•Theatre Street." Half-way up the street were two 
rival theatres, on opposite sides of the way. Every few 
moments a long narrow curtain was drawn up with a rush, 
revealing to the crowd of watchers the backs of the musi- 
cians and actors, and the faces of the audience, rising tier 
above tier beyond. The musicians were young and pretty 
girls, dressed in kimonos of vivid red and blue, and play- 
ing on drums and samisens — an instrument somewhat re- 
sembling a guitar. As the curtain rolled up the musicians 
redoubled their efforts, the actors played with added 
vigor, and the watchers gazed with bated breath ; and 

then, just at the climax, down came the curtain with a 
i 

bang, and a ticket-seller rushed out and, waving a hand- 
ful of tickets, advised those who wished to see the end of 
this thrilling melodrama to purchase tickets without losing 
a moment. No sooner did one curtain fall than the 
other opposition curtain rose, and so it went on for hours. 
At one corner was an apothecary's shop, distinguished 
by a huge death's head. Just under this emblem sat a 
group of students with huge books spread on low stands 

25 



LIBRARY 

NEW YORK 



A Japanese Journey 



before them. They rocked back and forth, tapped their 
foreheads, scowled fiercely, and exhibited all the signs of 
being in the throes of learning to the wondering eyes of 
a crowd of laymen, who watched them from afar with 
awe. 

On the ground in front of the shops were rows of street 
venders with their wares, their goods spread out on long 
strips of cloth, and lit by tiny lanterns set on short sticks, 
and here, there, and everywhere surged the people, the 
clack, clack of the sandals forming a melodious accom- 
paniment to their merry chatter. 

On another evening we went through a different por- 
tion of the town — the yoshiwara — or section set apart 
for the houses of prostitution. The social question in 
Japan is a very large and very important one — a problem 
the solution of which many of the greatest minds have 
tried to find. I do not know why this question seems 
to have been more agitated in Japan than elsewhere, 
unless it is because the Japanese discuss openly and in 
the most matter-of-course way, habits and customs of 
which we only speak in whispers and with bated breath. 

26 



Yokohama 

With advancing civilization the Japanese have given up 
many of their primitive ways, but even to this day, in the 
interior of the country, men and women bathe together as 
simply and as unconsciously as Adam and Eve before 
they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, and many things at 
which we shudder are to them merely matters of nature. 
The lives of many of these people, which seem to us 
shocking and immoral, are not so to them, because the 
immorality consists in knowing right and doing wrong, 
whereas they do not know the right, and should no more 
be blamed than a heathen should be blamed for not 
worshipping a God whom he does not know. In all the 
large cities, Yokohama, Tokyo, Kioto, Kobe — a certain 
section of the city is set apart for the houses of prostitu- 
tion. This section is known as the yoshiwara, and is 
under strict legal and medical supervision. The inmates 
of the yoshiwara are compelled by law to wear the obi, 
or sash confining the kimono tied in front, and they are 
also required to keep within the limits of the section set 
apart for them, so that no one can complain that the 
sights or knowledge of the yoshiwara are forced upon 

27 



Yokohama 

him. Whoever seeks it does so deliberately and of set 
purpose. Certainly this seems a step in the right direc- 
tion, when one thinks of the night side of Broadway, or 
the shameless exhibitions of the London Havmarket. 

On the night in question we wound through the dark 
streets of the business portion of the town, and finally 
crossing a long bridge, whirled into the glare of many 
lanterns. We passed through street after street of low 
two-storied houses, the upper story dark, the lower story 
open, but divided from the roadway by closely set rows 
of bamboo bars. Behind these bars was a clear space 
about six feet wide, of bare boards, and then came a long 
row of fairly pretty girls, crouching on their heels, dressed 
in kimonos of vivid red, blue, and green, stiff with gold 
embroidery, their faces powdered and rouged out of all 
semblance of naturalness, and their hair elaborately coiffed, 
and bristling with dozens of hair-pins. The sidewalk in 
front was filled with a slowly moving crowd of men, 
laughing, joking, and sizing up the points of these poor 
little animals, penned in the shambles, and exposed for 
sale like any other live stock. The streets seemed end- 

29 



A Japanese Journey 



less, and in each exactly the same thing was to be seen, 
and the motionless figures, and the set painted faces and 
staring eyes of the little koros haunted my dreams that 
night, and many a subsequent one. 

One of the prettiest jaunts in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Yokohama is the trip to Sujita, a tea-house on 
Mississippi Bay. Following the canal back of the Grand 
Hotel, and climbing slowly up the hill by the race-course, 
one comes suddenly out on a broad plateau overlooking 
the indented curve and dancing blue waters of the bay. 
Far away along the horizon a forest of poles marks the 
spot where the fishing fleet is gathered, and dotted all 
over the bay are the gleaming white sails of the smaller 
boats, and the sampans of the fishers who have remained 
nearer home. At low tide the rocks near the shore are 
covered with sea-weed gatherers and clammers, generally 
women and children, the former with their garments 
tucked well up above their knees, showing their sturdy, 
well-shaped brown legs, and the children dancing about, 
clad airilv in their own glistening skins. Circling care- 
fully down the hill, we run through a low, damp tunnel 



Yokohama 

at its base, and then come out close to the shores of the 
bay, lined with the huts of the fishermen. These huts 
are very low. and have long sloping roofs, covered with 
a heavy thatch, and along each ridge-pole grows a row 
of lilies. Tradition has it that some centuries ago, the 
ladies of Japan made of these lilies a very superior face- 
powder, and devoted so much time to the cultivation of 
the lilies and the manufacture of the powder that their 
households suffered ; so the emperor issued a decree that 
the lilies should no longer be grown on the face of the 
earth. Whereupon, the women promptly dug them up 
and planted them upon the roofs, where they grow to 
this day. In nearly every house were groups of women 
and children drying seaweed, or drinking tea, or smok- 
ing pipes, or washing themselves, or arranging their hair. 
The entire front of the house being open to the street, the 
most minute detail of the toilet may be observed by those 
passers-by who care to look ; but it is such a matter of 
course to these child-like people that scarcely any even 
turned the head. 

Finally we turned abruptly to the right, rattled down a 



A Japanese Journey 



narrow stony lane, and alighted at the entrance to the 
tea-house which was our goal. 

The tea-house stands close by an ancient temple, in a 
grove of beautiful plum-trees, which are laden with blos- 
soms during March. Tables are set under the trees, from 
the lower branches of which sway strips of paper covered 
with Japanese characters. These our guide informed us 
were poems written by different visitors to praise the 
trees and the temple. He translated one of them as fol- 
lows : 

" We know all flowers must fade, yet we pity that spring will be 
over." 

An ancient graveyard on the sloping hillside behind 
keeps watch over all, and we climbed up to it, hoping 
to be able to find some food for the camera ; a crowd of 
children who had been playing hide-and-seek among the 
stones ran away laughing and stumbling over the narrow 
mounds as they ran. 

One cup of the bitter pale-green tea was quite enough 
for us, and then we climbed into our 'rikishas again 

32 



Yokohama 

and returned to Yokohama in the cool purple of the 
sunset. 

No one visits Japan without making a pilgrimage to 
Kamakura, and gazing at the colossal statue of Buddha 
— the Dai Butzu. It was our fate to make this excursion 
on a superb May day — a day when the sun shone from 
the rising to the setting thereof in a sky of fleckless blue 
— a day when the soft breeze that tempered the sun's rays 
was laden with perfume — a day when the song of the 
birds rang sweeter and clearer from the very rapture of 
being alive — a day, in short, when all nature sang and 
laughed and during which life seemed a very sweet and 
pleasant thing. 

We left Yokohama at 12.30, and the fact that it was a 
children's fete-day at a temple midway between Yoko- 
hama and Kamakura, made our hour's journey doubly 
interesting. The second and third class carriages were 
filled with women, each with a gaily dressed baby on her 
back, and with from four to ten other babies toddling at 
her side. This carrying of the babies on the back is one 
of the most picturesque features of Japanese life. As soon 

33 



J 'okohama 

as a child is able to walk, a large doll is tied on its back, 
and it carries that burden until it is old enough to carry 
a real baby, which is pretty sure to have arrived in the 
family in the meantime. The babies do not seem to 
mind being carried in this way at all, but eat and sleep 
contentedly while the bearer pursues the ordinary avoca- 
tions of life, running, working, and even playing leap- 
frog with as little regard for the living burden as for the 
doll. 

Though the costumes of the adults are as a rule very 
sombre, they give free run to the national love of color 
in the garb of the children, and on feast days especially 
they blossom like the rose, and in their kimonos of many 
colors, their hair elaborately dressed and adorned with 
cherry blossoms or roses of silk, which so closely imi- 
tate nature as to bear the closest inspection, they are 
most attractive little people. 

Having reached the festival village and left most of 
our fellow - passengers to clack, clack along its shady 
street to the temple, we were able to turn our attention 
to the country through which we were passing. We 

35 



Yokohama 

found it a very uninteresting substitute, as the road was 
lined on either side by the rice paddies, most of them 
under water, and divided by narrow muddy dykes, on 
which the half-clad, dirty laborers stood leaning on their 
mud hoes, and watching the passing train with dull and 
tired eyes. Every mile or so, a hillock reared itself above 
its moist surroundings, and gave footing to a grove of 
cryptomerias enclosing a temple, and now and then we 
saw a field yellow with mustard, or passed a bit of 
higher ground covered with pear-trees trained on a flat 
trellis forming a canopy to the entire farm. 

Presently the train stopped at the tiny wooden station 
at Kamakura, and we descended to become the objects of 
a good-natured 'rikisha fight, comme ton jours. 

Matters having been settled in the usual laughing 
fashion, we mounted into our respective vehicles and 
started for the first object of our journey, the temple of 
Hachiman, the god of war. During the middle ages 
Kamakura was one of the military capitals of Japan, but 
time has done its slow and fatal work here, as in so many 
other Japanese towns, and rice paddies and wheat fields 

37 



A Japanese Journey 



have taken the place of fortresses and parade grounds. 
The once wide avenues have shrunk into muddy lanes, 
and the grand old cryptomerias which proudly waved 
their branches over the superb trappings of the armies of 
the Shoguns, now sigh sadly above white clad pilgrims, 
and inquisitive globe-trotters. The temple of the war god 
is but a fragment of what it was in those good old days 
when Shoguns, regents and heroes, accompanied by thou- 
sands of their followers, came to implore the aid of 
Hachiman before entering into battle ; but the small bit 
that remains is most imposingly situated. 

A flight of fifty eight broad stone steps, flanked on 
the left by a huge tree twelve hundred years old, leads to 
a broad platform in front of the temple. The steps look 
very high and very steep as one stands at the bottom, but 
when once the top is reached one feels well repaid for 
the climb, for from the torii at the foot an avenue of 
cryptomerias runs straight forward to where the sea dances 
in the sunshine a mile and a half away. Inside the temple 
one is shown various relics, such as the sword of Hach- 
iman and the helmet of Iyeyasu, which the priests touch 

38 



Yokohama 

with reverent hands, but which to the outsider seem to 
be merely very badly battered bits of old iron. 

Having made the regulation round we set forth once 
more, and made our way down the famous avenue, and 
by divers side-paths skirting rice paddies, and winding 
through fields of softly swaying wheat, to the little Ka- 
hin Inn by the shore, where we lunched. The low two- 
storied white building is set in the midst of a grove of 
pines, which have been blown into most grotesque shapes 
by the constantly prevailing south wind, and the soft 
soughing of their branches makes a tenor to the bass of 
the ocean breakers, while the air is filled with their sweet 
and spicy perfumes. 

The Dai Butsu stands a little distance beyond the hotel, 
in a tiny valley leading back from the shore, and is one 
of the few badly placed show-pieces of Japan. It is ex- 
traordinary to me that a people with the wonderful artistic 
instinct of the Japanese, can permit the approach to this 
superb statue to remain as it is. To be sure, Dai Butsu 
has met with many misfortunes, tidal waves have swept 
over and destroyed the temple which originally protected 

39 



Yokohama 

him, and earthquakes have very nearly shaken him from 
his seat ; but that is no reason why his visitors should 
have to approach him by a narrow winding woodland 
pathway, which conceals all knowledge of his nearness 
until they are at his very feet. Once face to face with 
him, however, one forgets his environments. Nothing 
in Japan impressed me in quite the same way as did Dai 
Butsu. The guide-book tells us that the image is made of 
bronze ; that it is so many feet high and so many feet in 
circumference, and that there are so many curls on his 
huge head, each curl measuring so many inches ; and 
each statement seems a separate insult to the grandeur 
and majesty of that imposing figure. The quiet face with 
its down-cast eyes seems to me to be instinct with the 
noblest teaching of the Buddhist doctrines, and to per- 
sonify the peace which comes to him who has met his 
temptations bravely, has done battle with them, and stands 
at last the conqueror of self. 

Having gazed at Great Buddha until his silent majesty 
was indelibly impressed upon our minds, and having pho- 
tographed him from every point, we followed a white clad 

4i 



A Japanese Journey 



priest through a low door in the side of the pedestal, and 
looked up through clouds of incense to the top of the 
figure. At the height of the shoulders was a wooden 
platform crowded with gilded copies of the great origi- 
nal, and in front of us was an altar on which a light has 
been burning, and incense smoking, night and day for 
many, many years. And all around, on the green under- 
surface of the bronze, as high as hands could reach, were 
scrawled in chalk, or scratched with a knife, the names of 
many individuals whom the fool-killer has not yet had 
time to remove from the face of the earth ! So badly had 
many of these iconoclasts behaved, that at the entrance 
to one temple in Kamakura a board was nailed, on which 
was printed the following dignified and much-needed re- 
proof : 

" Stranger, whosoever thou art, and whatsoever be thy 
creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary, remember thou 
treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. 
This is the Temple of Buddha, and the gate of the Eter- 
nal, and should therefore be entered with reverence." 

The day had been a long one, and we were all tired, 

42 



Yokohama 

so when we had finally turned our backs on Dai Butsu, 
and found ourselves at the foot of a flight of steps almost 
as long as the ones leading to the Hachiman, and were 
told that at the top we should find still another temple, 
that of Kwannon, goddess of mercy, we were greatly in- 
clined to take its beauties on trust, and turn our faces 
stationward. But Schimidzu, our guide, with his winning 
and imploring, " Oh ! please, you come with me — we go 
very much slow, I very much Avant you see this. This 
( roddess Mercy statue — very finest in Japan — you please 
come," at last prevailed, and on reaching the top we felt 
well repaid for the effort. The view from the broad plat- 
form in front of the temple was superb. At our feet was 
the village of Kamakura, with its two or three narrow 
streets, its heavily-thatched houses, and its acres of waving 
grain. To the left rose a range of rounded green -clad 
hills, and on the right the ocean heaved and undulated, 
gleaming purple and gold under the slanting rays of the 
setting sun. Removing our shoes, we entered the temple, 
in which we at first saw nothing in any way different 
from thousands of other temples. But after a low -toned 

43 



A Japanese Journey 



conference between Schimidzu and two of the priests, we 
were conducted down a narrow passageway by the side of 
the altar, and into a dark Holy of Holies in the rear. 
For a second or two after the narrow door was closed be- 
hind us, we could see nothing at all, but presently, 
through the blackness we could make out the vague out- 
lines of a huge figure towering above us, and gradually we 
became conscious that we were standing at the footstool of 
" Mercy." The priest, after bowing, clapping his hands, 
and rapidly growling out a prayer, lit two small lanterns 
which were hung on pulleys, in such a way that they could 
be raised and lowered at will, thus giving us Mercy in 
sections, as it were. The figure is heroic in size, carved 
of wood and covered with gilt ; many gold chains hang 
about its neck, and the broad, stupid face is surrounded 
by a crown formed of dozens of small gold figures. In 
one hand the goddess holds a medicine box, while the 
other hand grasps firmly the Sceptre of Power. It may 
be that Dai Butsu had absorbed all the admiration and 
respect which I could exhale in one day, or it may be 
that straining one's eyes through the darkness to see only 

44 



1 okohama 

sections of a statue, is not calculated to inspire awe; but 
whatever the reason, I was very soon tired of Kwannon 
and returned to the temple proper, and there I found a 
dear, fat god, who will long occupy a prominent niche in 
my memory. He was a roly-poly, snubnosed, smiling 
deity, contentedly squatting on a lotus leaf, his fat hands 
comfortably clasped over a round and well-fed " tumpy," 
and he was painted a vivid scarlet. But his crowning 
glory was his cap. Some devout worshipper had be- 
stowed upon him a knitted worsted baby cap, the colors 
of which would have made Joseph's coat sink into leaden- 
hued dulness. It fitted his round poll to perfection, and 
it was completed by a huge yellow worsted tassel, which 
hung down over one eye in the most jovial and rakish 
manner. Dear little fat, red-faced god, may your shadow 
never grow less, may the colors of your cap never fade, 
and may the donor of that cap never suffer from a return 
of the headaches which were doubtless the cause of its 
bestowal ! 



45 



Dress, Manners, and Customs 

I have spoken a number of times of the kimono, the 
national dress of both men and women in Japan, but have 
as yet given no description of it. The Japanese are, as a 
a people, so inherently ceremonious, that each fold in each 
garment has a meaning of its own — a fact which makes 
many of the natives smile quietly when they see the odd 
jumble of meanings which a foreigner puts into the wear- 
ing of the kimono and its accessories. 

The indoor garb of an unmarried Japanese woman 
consists of a short under -garment of white linen, over 
which comes a long, shapeless garment of silk. Then 
comes a silk apron tied around the waist and reaching as 
far back as the hips on either side, and down to the ankles 
in front. Then comes the kimono — a shapeless gown of 
silk, silk crepe, or cotton crepe, with long open sleeves, 
reaching to the knees, and open at the neck. This robe 

46 



Dress, Manners, and Customs 



must always be crossed from left to right, as it is con- 
sidered very unlucky to cross it the opposite way. A 
roll of colored silk crepe follows the line of the outer robe 
around the neck, and then comes the obi or sash, which 
holds the gown in place. Great care is taken in tying 
the obi, as a few inches difference in the length of the 
ends, or a longer or shorter loop to the bow, marks the 
difference between the matron and maid. The kimonos 
are generally very subdued in color, but the obi is as 
gorgeous as one's purse can buy. Superb brocades, heav- 
ily woven with gold, silks of such royal texture that they 
would stand alone, crepes shot with gold and silver, all 
woven in lengths of four and a half yards, are used by 
the rich ; and even with the very poor, the obi is always 
the most costly part of the toilette. The feet are encased 
in white cotton hose, reaching only to the ankle, with a 
digitated covering for the big toe. In the house nothing 
but the stocking is worn, but on going into the street the 
foot is slipped into sandals made of rice straw with two 
velvet straps crossing on top, passing between the big toe 
and the one next, or else heavy wooden clogs are as- 

47 



A Japanese Journey 



snmed, the latter making the musical clacking of which 
I have so often spoken. The long, wing-like sleeves of 
the maid are greatly shortened when she becomes a wife, 
the white fold at the neck is changed for a colored one, 
the loops and ends of the obi contract, the dressing of the 
hair becomes more elaborate, and, worst of all, the pearly 
teeth are blackened and the mouth assumes the cavern- 
ous appearance which makes a married Japanese woman a 
most hideous object. 

The kimonos of the geisha or dancing girls are rich in 
the extreme, the sleeves fall to the bottom of the gown, 
and the black hair fairly bristles with gold and silver pins, 
which stand out like a halo. On going into the street 
both maids and matrons cover their house-gowns with 
a long, grayish-brown cloak, which completely envelops 
them ; and in cold weather they wear a hood of silk 
which hides all of the face except the eyes, and closely 
resembles a Turkish yashmak. 

The garb of the men is very similar to that of the women, 
but it is almost always of a brown and black striped silk, 
and instead of the obi they wear a small silk cord, through 

48 



Dress, Manners, and Customs 



which is thrust the inevitable pipe and tobacco-pouch. 
Both men and women make their long sleeves do duty 
for pockets, and the number of articles which can be 
stowed away in them is really remarkable. 

One thing which always strikes the Western mind as 
very odd, is, that things Japanese always seem to work by 
contraries. The carpenter planes toward, instead of away 
from, himself, the needle- woman sews inexactly the other 
way. The builder makes the roof first, and laboriously 
builds the house under it ; the tailor makes the lining 
first, and adapts the coat to it. The horse in the stall 
stands with his tail to the manger, and the keys turn back- 
ward to lock. Many rivers are tunnelled under instead of 
bridged, and they dry up in winter and become roaring 
torrents at mid -summer. One might go on with these 
examples indefinitely, but after even a few weeks res- 
idence they become such matters of course that one 
ceases to notice them. 

The politeness of the Japanese is proverbial, and is 
amusing at first, and then embarrassing, and even at times 
a little revolting. It is most ludicrous to witness a meet- 

49 



A Japanese Journey 



ing in the street between two men. They do not quite go 
to the length of dropping on hands and knees, but they 
bow and bow, drawing in the breath with a sharp hiss at 
each bow, and when they finally cease and begii\ their con- 
versation, it is a positive physical relief to the observer. 
On entering a house both visitors and visitee drop 
promptly to their knees, and bend the forehead to the 
ground, hissing like so many serpents as they do so. 
Then the pipes are produced, and the ever ready cup of 
tea swallowed, and after this conversation begins. 

Respect for the old is a marked feature in Japanese 
life. The timid little bride oppressed and over-worked by 
her mother-in-law, obeys the slightest wish of that person 
without a murmur, hugging to her bosom the thought of 
the day when she will be a mother-in-law, and free to 
oppress others as she has been oppressed. The father 
and mother, as a rule, work only until their children 
are old enough to support them. Then they fold their 
hands complacently, and submit with perfect composure 
to being supported all the rest of their lives. The devo- 
tion of children to their parents is absolute, and when a 

5° 



Dress, Ma mi os, and Customs 



son marries the devotion of the daughter-in-law is no 
less marked. She becomes not only daughter, but slave, 
servant, and drudge, and unless she promptly furnishes an 
heir to the family, is often regarded with the utmost cold- 
ness and dislike. But time is changing the ideas of the Jap- 
anese in this matter, as in so many others, and of late years 
the condition of the women has been much improved. 

When twilight falls over the city, and the soft pink lights 
of the 'rikishas begin to glow, there sounds through the 
streets a low, plaintive whistle that echoes like a pleading 
cry. It is the whistle of the blind shampooer, who steals 
forth in the twilight to knead and rub the weary limbs and 
aching muscles of those who have toiled during the day. 
These people are really massagers, and the profession is al- 
most monopolized by those who are blind ; and that it is 
remunerative may be inferred from the fact that some in- 
human parents have been known to deliberately blind their 
babies, so as to render them eligible for the profession. 

All night long their soft whistle sounds through the 
streets, and when day dawns they vanish to reappear only 
with the stars. 

5i 



Tokyo 

j 

Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is at the head of the bay of 
Tokyo, three-quarters of an hour by rail from Yokohama. 
Here are the residences of the Mikado, the foreign lega- 
tions, and two of the largest and handsomest temples in 
the country, second only to those of Nikko. 

We saw it first on a sunny day in April, when the in- 
numerable cherry-trees were just commencing to bloom, 
and the fresh new leaves were at their greenest. From the 
station we went to the Imperial Hotel, a modern marble 
structure situated opposite the moat which entirely sur- 
rounds the imperial palace. This moat is about fifty feet 
wide, and, on the palace side, rise stone buttresses over- 
hung by dwarfed and spreading pines, and with massive 
guard-houses at every turn. War, grim and terrible, 
confronts one there, but on the city side peace rests on 
clouds of cherry-blooms. 

53 



Tokyo 

Having settled our belongings at the hotel we started 
forth again, and short as our time in Japan had been, such 
is the adaptability of the human mind, that it seemed 
strange to find ourselves drawn by horses. Horses and 
carriages are still so new in Tokyo that each vehicle 
has two men, the driver and a running footman, called 
a syce, who stands on a little foot-board behind the 
carriage, and as each corner is approached, jumps down 
and runs ahead to warn pedestrians to keep out of the 
way. That first drive was a memorable one, for although 
the number of foreigners is greater than in Yokohama, 
the city is much more characteristicallv Japanese than 
the latter. We rumbled through the narrow streets, 
some of them so narrow that it seemed doubtful whether 
the carriage could pass through, and finally came out on 
a broad boulevard, which ended in the spacious plaza 
forming the entrance to U.yeno Park. Crowds of merry- 
makers were abroad, clad in their best bibs and tuckers, 
wandering slowly to and fro, and fairly steeping them- 
selves in the beauty of the cherry-blossoms. And how 
beautiful they were ! We drove mile after mile through 

55 



Tokyo 

double rows of trees laden with the exquisite pink and 
white blossoms. If we looked up it was to see patches of 
the blue sky through a rose mist ; if we looked side- 
ways it was to see the dark green of the tree-trunks 
through a network of softest pink ; and did we look 
down, our eyes rested on a carpet of the fallen flowers. 
It was a very sea of blossoms, and one felt drowned in 
beauty. Satiated with cherry-trees we drove across the 
city to where the lacquered walls of the Shiba temple 
rose in a forest of dark and stern cryptomerias. No 
greater contrast could be imagined than that between 
Uyeno Park, with its cherries and merry-makers, and 
Shiba Park, with its dark trees and its silent temple, 
where the deep voice of a praying priest and the monot- 
onous cawinir of the rooks were the onlv sounds that 
broke the stillness. 

I shall always have a tender feeling for the Shiba 
temple, because it was the first one I saw, and it seemed 
very magnificent then ; but its glories were so far sur- 
passed by the temples of Xikko that I have almost for- 
gotten them, so I shall not speak of temples again until I 

57 



A Japanese Journey 



reach Nikko. Yes, just one I must mention, the temple 
of Asakusa, also at Tokyo, and without a visit to which 
one's memories of Japan would be incomplete. It is sit- 
uated at the end of a long, narrow street, lined on 
either side with shops, containing pipes, toys, hair or- 
naments, hats, obis, in fact everything necessary for the 
adornment of the outer man or woman, and also every- 
thing necessary to satisfy the craving of the inner one 
from soup to sake. The temple itself is large, open to the 
air on all sides, and reached by a flight of steep red lacq- 
uered steps. It is filled with a heterogeneous jumble of 
gods of various kinds, imprisoned behind bamboo grat- 
ings, huge drums, prayer gongs, and venders of paper 
prayers. These prayers are purchased for an infinitesimal 
sum, chewed up, and then thrown at the image of the par- 
ticular god whom the petitioner wishes to propitiate. If 
the little wad sticks, well and good, the suppliant feels 
that his prayer has been heard, and goes away satisfied ; 
but if it falls, gloom fills the breast of the unfortunate 
pleader, and peace is not with him. From the rafters 
overhead gigantic lanterns sway to and fro in the breeze, 

58 



Tokyo 

and dozens of white pigeons flit in and out, occasionally 
perching on the beams to peer curiously clown at the 
crowds below. The grounds around the temple are 
crowded with booths, and every day seems to be a fete 
day, for, go where you will, you are sure to find just as 
many booths and just as many merry-makers as the day 
before. 

It was at Tokyo — but wait a moment, a matter so im- 
portant as the Mikado's garden-party deserves a chapter 
all to itself. 



59 



The Garden Party 

Lying in front of me as I write is a large square en- 
velope. On it two names are written in English, and 
below are some Japanese characters, which I suppose rep- 
resent the same names. As I look at it the familiar 
surroundings of this little New England village fade away, 
and I stand once more in the large room in the Tokyo 
hotel, where my eyes first rested upon this much-coveted 
piece of pasteboard. The windows are open, and as the 
breeze blows the curtains apart I look across the road- 
way, over the ruffled waters of the moat, made rosy by 
fallen cherry-blossoms, to where the massive stone but- 
tresses and watch-towers guard the residence of the 
Mikado. This card that I hold is an invitation from that 
sacred person, who has so far broken through the clouds 
of mediaeval superstition, that he is able to extend an 
invitation to this humble person from the little New Eng- 

61 



A Japanese Journey 



land village so many miles away — something which he 
could not have done twenty-five years ago, though he be 
" Son of Heaven, and Ruler of the Earth ! ! ! ' 

Inside the envelope was a square card of heavy paste- 
board, bearing at the top, the imperial crest, the sixteen- 
petaled chrysanthemum, in gold, and around the sides a 
border of conventionalized chrysanthemums and leaves 
also in gold. 

The invitation was, of course, in Japanese, but it was 
accompanied by a translation, greatly to my relief. From 
the latter I learned that 

By command of their Imperial Majesties 
the Emperor and Empress, 
The Minister of the Imperial Household respectfully requests the 
presence of at the Kwan-ou-kwai (Im- 

perial Cherry-Bloom Garden Party), to be held at Hama Riyu (Im- 
perial Sea-side Palace) on the 12th inst., at half-past two o'clock P.M. 
April II, 1894. 

With this was a small pink card on which were printed 
the regulations as to carriages, entrance to grounds, etc., 

62 



The Garden Party 



and also the following sentence, which I have good cause 
to know by heart : 

" Gentlemen will wear high hats and frock-coats." 
It was a command, you perceive, and I have always 
heard that royal commands must be obeyed. The senior 
male member of the part}- was provided with the necessary 
articles of costume, but the junior member unfortunately 
was not. As the invitations are only issued one day in 
advance, there was no time to have the garments made, 
so it was a case of borrow. One of our Yokohama 
friends promptly came forward in the character of lender, 
and promised to send the coat and hat by the first train 
on the morning of the fateful day. So we went to bed 
with fairly easv minds. Thursday, April 12th, dawned 
dull and misty, and there were many anxious hearts as 
we looked out upon the day; for be it understood that if 
the day set prove rainy, there is no postponement " a la 
Barnum " to the first fair day — the Garden Party simply 
goes over to the next year. But as the day advanced the 
clouds lifted somewhat, and by noon the sun was faintly 
shining on the city. 

63 



A Japanese Journey 



The first train from Yokohama arrived, and the Doc- 
tor and I descended to the hall to receive the expected 
coat and hat. 'Rikishas rattled up and\ deposited their 
loads, the crowd around the door gradually melted away, 
and we realized with a secret chill that the expected bun- 
dle had not come. Of course, we promptly assured each 
other that we had not expected it by that train any way, 
and settled down to wait for the second train. The ex- 
pectation, the chill, and the assurances were all repeated 
at 1 1 o'clock, and it was with a decided feeling of ap- 
prehension that we sallied forth to meet the third train, 
which was due at 12.30. A number of friends arrived, 
but no hat or coat. The situation was becoming ex- 
ceedingly serious. The hat and coat were a sine qua 
nan. Without them the Doctor could not go, and my 
pleasure would be ended. There was one hope left. A 
train from Yokohama was due at 2.05, and if the things 
came then, the Doctor would have just time to slip into 
them and be off at 2.30. The rest of the party donned 
festival attire, and then wandered gloomily about, count- 
ing the flying moments, and sternly avoiding any mention 

64 



The Garden Party 



of the faithless man in Yokohama. At last the train 
arrived, and with it came Mr. T's betto, exhausted and 
breathless, but with the precious clothes. Then came the 
getting into them. The hat went fairly well, but the 
coat — ! ! It hung upon the Doctor like a blanket. 
Despair again claimed us for its own, and we were about 
to relinquish the struggle, when the bright idea came to 
one of us to put another coat under the frock-coat. No 
sooner said than done — the Doctor's heavy Melton went 
on first, the frock-coat second. The fit was improved, 
but was far from perfect, and to cut a long story short, 
when we finally drove away from the hotel at 2.35, a 
stout and very warm gentleman sat at my side, securely 
buttoned into three coats, and knowing that nothing but 
a matter of life and death would justify him in unbutton- 
ing the outer one ! 

The streets leading to the sea-side palace, which is 
situated on the bay, were filled with a very orderly 
crowd, gazing with awe-struck eyes at the favored beings 
who had been actually asked to look upon the sac red 
person of the Emperor. 

65 



The Garden Party 



After a drive of about ten minutes we passed through a 
heavy iron gateway, and found ourselves on a gravelled 
plaza before the palace gates. Our cards were taken by 
an officer in uniform, and we were compelled to wait 
while he compared them with a long list which he held. 
Having satisfied himself that it was all right, he made 
us a low bow and waved us on. Inside the gates were 
dozens of lackeys in dark blue velvet coats, and knee- 
breeches heavily trimmed with gold, red waistcoats, white 
silk stockings, and low shoes with huge buckles. They 
conducted us a short distance, and then motioned to us 
to follow the crowd of gayly-dressed people who were 
slowly sauntering through the grounds toward a lake 
which gleamed through the trees in front of us. The 
walk was a long one, but the grounds were beautiful, and 
cultivated to a wonderful degree of perfection. The 
entrance reserved for the ministers of legation, corps 
diplomatique, etc., was divided from the other by banners 
of white and black silk, and lackeys were stationed at 
every turn, who saluted us humbly, but at the same time 
kept a sharp lookout to see that we followed the proper 

67 



A Japanese Journey 



path, and did not defile with sacrilegious feet the gravel 
walk sacred to the Son of Heaven. 

At last, after wandering through aisles of blossoming 
cherry-trees, and under a long trellis already hung with 
the pale lilac of the wistaria, we emerged on a grassy 
terrace by the lake side, where we found a large crowd 
assembled, and where we were told to wait for the appear- 
ance of their Majesties. The hour that they kept us 
standing there was all too short, so absorbing was it to 
watch the component parts of that very mixed assemblage. 

How strange and unreal to New World eyes appeared 
these Old World people ! Unfortunately we were a few 
years too late to see the court officials in their national 
dress, as the Mikado in 1886 issued an edict ordering 
the adoption of European dress for the state occasions ; 
but the Chinese and Corean ambassadors, and a visiting 
Indian prince, were resplendent in rich silks and brocades, 
and the gay uniforms of the Army and Navy officers made 
bright patches of color in the midst of the sombre black 
coats and tall hats of the rest of the men. But as for the 
costumes of the native women — ! These queer, slanting - 

68 



TJic Garden Party 



eyed, black-haired, rouged little women wore the most 
hideous combinations of color, the most ill-made and 
badly-fitting gowns. That a nation so innately artistic 
as the Japanese should not have better taste when they 
don civilized garments, I cannot understand. Of course, 
there were exceptions to this, as to every rule, and some 
of the women were dressed extremely well in gowns that 
bore the stamp of Paris on every fold ; but the majority 
were dreadful ! Finally, after an hour's waiting the band 
burst forth with the national air, a chamberlain rushed 
through the crowd, forming us into lines on either side 
of the path, and the imperial procession appeared. They 
came across a long, low bridge spanning the lake, two 
guards first, then two court officials, and then the Mikado. 
His Imperial Majesty Mutsu-Hito, one hundred and twen- 
ty-first Emperor of Japan, is a short, bow-legged indi- 
vidual, with the slanting eyes, coarse black hair, and 
yellow complexion of his race, and on the occasion in 
question he wore the costume of a French army officer. 
He paced stolidly along, staring straight before him, one 
hand resting on his sword hilt and the other held stiffly 

69 



A Japanese Journey 



at his side. A few feet behind him came the Empress 
Haruko. She is extremely plain — with very narrow- 
slanting eyes, a wee round button of a mouth, and 
straight coarse black hair. She was beautifully dressed 
in a pink brocade gown, evidently fresh from Paris. 
On her head was a pink bonnet, and she carried a pink 
parasol covered with exquisite lace. She is a tiny little 
woman, and she walked with the awkward trot of feet 
as yet unaccustomed to European shoes. But small as 
she is, and ugly as she is. she is every inch an empress, 
and there is a wonderful amount of dignity and strength 
in her tiny frame. As she trotted along after her sullen- 
looking husband, she bowed very graciously to right and 
left, and even favored one or two exalted beings with a 
pretty smile. She was followed by a band of court ladies, 
and then we all fell into line behind, and formed a long 
procession which wound along the borders of the lake, 
and across another bridge, to the spot where the royal 
pavilion stood on a slight eminence overlooking the 
water. The pavilion consisted of a roof of thatch sup- 
ported by bamboo poles, wound with ropes of evergreens 

70 



The Garden Party 



and camelias. One end was partitioned off by ropes of 
purple silk, and partially shut in by heavy purple silk 
curtains, and here stood the royal couple, while a num- 
ber of presentations were made. The Emperor stood 
near the entrance, scrutinizing each person presented with 
sharp, earnest eyes, and after a bow and a few words, 
translated by an interpreter, the presented one was passed 
on to the Empress, who smiled graciously, held out her 
hand to be kissed, and then turned away to greet the next 
comer. Occupying the entire length of the main pavilion 
was a long table very handsomely set, and as soon as the 
presentations were over, the purple rope was lowered, 
dozens of small tables sprang up like mushrooms on the 
green turf, and innumerable lackeys served to us a lun- 
cheon which would have done credit to Delmonico. It 
is whispered at court that the Emperor has welcomed 
with rapture the advancing civilization which has enabled 
him to banish from his table the raw fish, boiled bam- 
boo roots, lotus soup, and sake beloved by his ancestors, 
and substitute therefor the pate defoie gras, marinade de 
dinde, truffles, and that lightly sparkling nectar known to 

7i 



A Japanese Journey 



the effete West as August Roderer, Grand Yin Sec ! 
Be that as it ma}', the collation served under the cherry- 
trees at Hama Riyu, on April 12th last, proved con- 
clusively to my mind that, though the Mikado may not 
always be correct in his choice of a prime minister, he 
can be implicitly trusted in the matter of a chef de 
cuisine .' The luncheon lasted about an hour, then the 
living aisles were formed again, the royal procession 
passed between, in the same order in which it had come, 
and the Imperial Cherry Blossom Garden Party of 1894 
was only a memory ! 



72 



A Japanese Dinner 

Almost the first thing done by the foreigner in japan, 
is to partake of a genuine Japanese dinner. In all the 
large towns — Yokohama, Tokyo, Kioto, and Kobe — are 
Japanese establishments where dancing girls can be hired, 
and in this way foreigners can gain some idea of what a 
Japanese dinner is. 

The dinners and dances given by the Maple Leaf Club, 
at Tokio, are considered the best in Japan, and it was our 
good fortune to be present at one. To make this possi- 
ble, the men of the party had to be "put up" by a 
member of the club, just as with us. The members of 
the club are principally Japanese, but there are a few- 
foreigners — members of legations, etc. We left the hotel 
at 7.30 p.m., and after a quick drive through the long, 
dark, mysterious roads of Shiba Park, we found ourselves 
at the lantern-lit entrance to the club. Two smiling, 

73 



A Japanese Dinner 



bowing little maidens met us at the door and removed 
our shoes, then we carefully ascended the highly-polished 
black lacquer stairs, and found ourselves in the banquet 
hall. This was a large square room, divided from the 
rest of the house by sliding paper panels. The floor was 
covered with squares of exquisitely fine matting, and the 
room was brilliantly lit by parti-colored lanterns hung 
by chains of unequal lengths, from the ceiling which 
was beautifully panelled in bamboo. At one end of the 
room was a recess, like a fireplace, containing a hanging 
scroll, called a kakemono, and a dwarf maple-tree, fully 
leaved. The furniture consisted of thin, square, silk- 
covered mats, and a large, dark wooden brazier, filled 
with wood ashes, at which to light the pipes, which are 
always en evidence in Japan, whether in shops, private 
houses, or public restaurants. 

We seated ourselves upon the mats in Japanese style, 
that is. we crouched upon our heels, and the dinner made 
its appearance. The first things offered us were the pipes, 
which were duly lighted and smoked. Then, before each 
one of us was placed a square lacquer tray, standing 

75 



A Japanese Journey 



on four low feet. On these the dinner was served. First 
came a covered lacquer bowl, containing a weak soup, in 
which floated small strips of boiled bamboo roots. Then 
came fish, raw and cooked, served with a pungent sauce 
called "soy." After that followed a seemingly endless 
procession of boiled meat, snipe, boiled lotus roots, pickled 
sea- weed, and the dinner ended with a dessert of sweet 
cakes. Sake was served all through the meal. It is 
brought in, in a porcelain bottle, which stands in a bowl 
of hot water. The attendant pours a little sake into a 
tiny, thin, china cup. from which one sips a swallow, and 
then passes the cup to his neighbor ; said neighbor empties 
the remaining sake into a bowl provided for the pur- 
pose, the cup is refilled, and the ceremony is repeated. 

When the supper was half over, the side panels were 
pushed away and the geisha (musicians), and the maiko 
(dancing girls), entered. The geisha were two — pale, 
tired-looking women, who carried their queerly-shaped 
instruments on their backs. The geisha are almost 
always women who begin as dancers, but becoming too 
old or too unattractive for that position, accept the posi- 

76 



A Japanese Dinner 



tion of musicians. There were three maiko — all of 
them tiny, solemn little beings, who seemed to regard 
their dance in the light of a very serious and important 
function. The premiere danseuse wore a very handsome 
kimono of satin, heavily embroidered, the sleeves just 
escaping the ground. The obi was white satin nearly 
covered with heavy gold embroidery, and a perfect halo 
of hair-pins stood out from her head. The other two 
were more plainly gowned, but all the costumes were 
handsome. After a few moments devoted to timing the 
musical instruments, the dance began. Of course, the 
queer, slow steps, and stiff posturing conveyed no story 
to us, but it was most interesting to watch the earnest 
little faces of the dancers, and their entire absorption 
in what they were doing. It made no difference whether 
we watched them or not — the monotonous tum-tum of 
the samisen and the stiff posturing of the dancers went 
on just the same. When the dance was over, both musi- 
cians and dancers were asked to come over and have some 
port — the drink which they prefer to all others ; so, with 
much giggling and many bows, they toddled over, and 

77 



A Japanese Journey 



having seated themselves in a semi-circle before their 
hosts, consumed a tiny cup of port apiece. Then, em- 
boldened by their libations, they began to inspect the 
women of the party. They felt of the gowns, peered 
under the hats, twisted the rings on the fingers. Finally, 
when sitting on one's heels had become an agony no 
longer to be endured, and we rose for a limping prome- 
nade around the room, they surrounded us like a bunch of 
talking flowers, and toddling" by our sides, played at sup- 
porting us as we walked, we, of course, towering head 
and shoulders above them. When we finally descended 
the polished staircase, and, having resumed our shoes, 
were seated in the 'nkishas ready to depart, our last view- 
was of a row of crouching, dainty little maidens, smil- 
ing and nodding, and kissing their hands, while the soft 
echo of their sayonara died away on the still night-air. 



78 



Kioto 

Kioto, the ancient capital of Japan, is distant from 
Yokohama twenty hours by rail. 

We left Yokohama at 12.30 p.m., having consumed 
nearly half an hour in packing away one large round 
table, one champagne basket of eatables, one market 
basket of drinkables, and two shawl-straps of rugs and 
pillows, in addition to the usual collection of bags, baskets, 
cameras, and umbrellas, which, like the poor, we had 
always with us. These proceedings were watched with 
admiration and interest by a crowd of natives, who 
measure their respect for the foreigner by the size and 
number of his bundles. The journey is through most 
lovely scenery. On first leaving Yokohama, we went 
through a section of flat, well-cultivated country, then the 
road followed the sea-shore for some distance, and then 
it turned up into the mountains, giving us constant change 

79 



Kioto 

of scene. At first we passed for miles between the water- 
covered rice fields and saw the almost naked peasants 
laboriously stirring the mud with their uncouth and prim- 
itive instruments. The nineteenth century English railway 
train, as it rushed along the embankment above the fields, 
probably seemed to these stolid tillers of the soil as 
strange as their mediaeval ploughshares and pruning-hooks 
did to us, and the contrast was certainly striking. 

Kioto was reached at 5 a.m. on a misty, warm spring 
morning. As we came out of the station, dull and 
heavy-eyed from lack of sleep, it was almost startling to 
find ourselves in the midst of a merry, chattering crowd 
of people, on their way to worship at their favorite temple, 
before beginning their day's work. The long procession 
of our 'rikishas, on leaving the station, crossed a number 
of wide streets, rattled through a number of narrow ones, 
followed the windings of a swift shallow river through 
the heart of the town, and finally, after ascending a steep 
hill, with many groans from the 'rikisha boys, we were 
deposited at the entrance to Yaami's Hotel. The brothers 
Yaami were originally guides, and having become rich 

81 



A Japanese Journey 



through following their profession, they purchased two 
tea-houses on the slope of one of the hills surrounding 
Kioto, and transformed them into a hotel, which is one 
of the best known in Japan. Unfortunately, the hotel was 
very full at the time of our arrival, and the rooms given 
us were far from comfortable, so after resting for a few 
hours, we left and settled ourselves at the Kioto Hotel, 
in the centre of the city. But some memories of Yaami's 
will always remain — notably the soft booming of the tem- 
ple bell close by, as it sent forth its silver call to worship, 
at six o'clock on that misty morning, bringing at least 
one Christian sinner to her knees, in gratitude for the 
goodness that permitted her to hear it. 

We were unfortunate enough to visit Kioto in the 
midst of the short rainy season, and most of its absorbing 
sights were seen between the drops, but they were scarcely 
less beautiful for that. The first places of interest that 
we visited were the palace of the Mikado, and Nijo Castle, 
the former residence of the Shogun, and now the prop- 
erty of the Emperor. 

At the entrance to the Mikado's palace our passports 

82 



Kioto 

were severely scrutinized, and then we were forced to 
wait, while our guide changed the stuff trousers worn 
under his kimono, for a pair of silk ones lent for the oc- 
casion by one of the custodians of the gateway. Then 
we were handed over to the tender mercies of two palace 
guides, and were permitted to enter the sacred precincts. 
As we went toward the entrance for visitors, we passed a 
number of old women crouching on their knees, and 
patiently grubbing out from between the pebbles tiny 
weeds that almost required a magnifying-glass to be seen 
at all. 

The grounds are large and handsome, and, as one may 
judge from the foregoing instance, kept in most exquisite 
order. The palace itself stands in the very centre of the 
grounds, and is a large bare building, almost completely 
encircled by kitchens, guards' residences, store-houses, etc. 
Tlie rooms are huge, and furnished onlv bv beautiful 
squares of soft matting, and gorgeously decorated gold 
screens. The room which the Emperor occupies even 
now, on his rare visits to Kioto, is a small square box, 
surrounded on all four sides by the rooms of his guards, 

83 



A Japanese Journey 



and furnished only with a small elevated platform on which 
are thrown the heavy silk futons (rugs) upon which reposes 
the sacred person of the " Brother of the Sun and Moon, 
and first-cousin of the fixed stars." The throne is a 
low, red velvet chair, standing on a dais draped with 
China silk curtains, and having two red velvet cushions 
before it on which rest the hat and sword of state. The 
last time that the Emperor visited Kioto was on the 
occasion of the visit of the Grand Duke Nicholas of Rus- 
sia, the present Emperor, whose life was attempted by a 
Japanese fanatic in Kioto, and saved by the coolness and 
courage of the Crown Prince of Greece. 

The change from the barrack-like bareness of the Mi- 
kado's palace, to the sumptuous decorations of the Sho- 
gun's former residence, at the other end of the city, was 
most marked. 

Having gone through the customary inspection at the 
entrance, we were permitted to pass under a massive 
gateway, crowned by a huge watch-tower, and found 
ourselves in a gravelled courtyard, terminating in a most 
superbly carved state entrance. Every inch of this is 

84 



Kioto 



wonderfully worked into all sorts of shapes of birds, 
beasts, and flowers, and is only equalled by the magnifi- 
cent carving at Nikko. The figures are heavily gilded, 
and the leaves and flowers gorgeously colored, so that 
the entire structure glows like a jewel. Passing through 
the small opening at the side, one mounts two or three 
polished lacquer steps, and finds one's self in a very riot 
of superb coloring, which continues from room to room, 
until one is fairly dazzled by the glory. The ceilings are 
divided into panels, of which the background is gold 
leaf, on which are most exquisitely painted an endless 
variety of subjects. The walls of the rooms are formed 
of sliding screens of gold, painted by the first artists ot 
Japan, and the matting covering the floors is of a pecul- 
iarly soft and delicate weave. Everywhere, on the ends 
of the tiny nails in the screens, on the huge bolts fasten- 
ing the beams of the ceilings, on the borders of the 
mats, in a never-ending procession on the divisions 
separating the panels, even woven into the silken hang- 
ings, one sees the three-leaved crest of the Shogun. 
When the castle came into the imperial possession, 

85 



Kioto 

orders were given that these crests should be removed, 
and the sixteen - petaled chrysanthemum substituted in 
place of them. But the labor proved so herculean that 
it was too much for even Japanese patience, so it was 
given up, and the Shogun's crest remains, except in one 
or two rooms. 

The number of temples in Kioto is seemingly endless, 
and the task of visiting them all would be almost like 
that of erasing the Shogun's crest. One of the principal 
ones is the Kiomidzu temple, the approach to which is 
up a steep hill, called Tea-pot Hill, lined on either side 
by rows of shops filled with cheap porcelain. At the 
entrance to the temple is a large stone basin, into which 
the water flows from the mouth of a beautifully-cast 
bronze dragon, securely fastened by a heavy bronze chain 
to a neighboring tree. The temple is huge, and open 
on all sides. At one side a platform, supported by a 
trestle-work of bamboo-poles, is built out over a preci- 
pice. From this platform, in the old days, jealous hus- 
bands threw their suspected wives. If they survived the 
fall to the jagged rocks of the mountain stream, hundreds 

S7 



A Japanese Journey 



of feet below, they were accounted innocent, and al- 
lowed to retire wherever they wished, to nurse their lacer- 
ated bodies and wounded hearts ; if they were killed, as 
was, of course, usually the case, they were accounted 
guilty, and their names erased from the records of their 
own and their husband's families. 

In this temple is the celebrated shrine of the Goddess 
of Marriage. The deity, a most hideous image painted a 
vivid scarlet, sits behind a lattice work of bamboo bars. 
The doubting maiden, and the timid lover come here. 
provided with long narrow strips of paper, which must 
be wound in and out of four of the lattice openings, and 
then tied in a knot, the thumb and fourth finger alone 
being employed in the operation. If any other finger is 
used, or even touches the paper or the lattice, the spell 
is broken, and the charm will not work. 

Leaving the temple nestling on the hill-side in the 
sheltering arms of a forest of beautifully straight trees 
of every shade of tender green, we strolled down Tea- 
pot Hill, and turning sharply to the left, could not re- 
press a cry of delight at the shadowy lane before us. 



Kioto 

It is impossible to describe the delicacy, the cloudy 
softness of the effect, as we looked through the narrow 
opening between those lofty trees of feathery bamboo. 
The silvery lance-shaped leaves seemed to melt imper- 
ceptibly into the gray clouds above, and when they 
swayed in the breeze, it was like the gentle waving of 
a giant fan of thistledown. We walked slowly through 
the lane, steeped and enfolded in its misty, cloudy, sil- 
very beauty, and rejoining our 'rikishas at the other end, 
rattled off to another temple known as the Temple of the 
33,333 Buddhas ! As one enters, one beholds a colossal 
statue of the god, sitting in state on the principal altar, 
while on either side stretch away, in endless perspective. 
life-sized copies of the great original, all in brilliant and 
unfading gold lacquer. A thousand images, in rows 
eight deep, fill the large hall, and the grand total is 
reached by means of dozens of tiny images worked into 
the large ones, wherever space can be found for them. 
It is a sight more interesting than beautiful, and the way 
to it was made dreadful by the groups of begging mon- 
strosities at the sides of the road. 

89 



Kioto 

A short distance from the centre of the town stands a 
monastery, known as the Gold Monastery, from the fact 
that the roof of a small building in the grounds is cov- 
ered with gold leaf. We were met at the gate by a 
white-clad Brother who made us sign our names in a 
visitors' book, and then led us through room after room, 
monotonously alike, and containing such imposing relics 
as a tooth of the founder of the Order, his heart, securely 
sealed in a wonderfully beautiful old Satsuma jar, a few 
pages of the same gentleman's handwriting, etc. We 
looked at them all, but I, for one, was much more in- 
terested in our priestly guide, with his pale, ascetic face, 
and also in a large pine-tree in one of the courts, which 
generations of patient monks have trained into the per- 
fect semblance of a Chinese junk. Our tour of inspection 
over, we had the inevitable cup of tea, and then went out 
into the grounds, which are justly celebrated for their 
beauty. Standing on the steps of the gold - covered 
building, which is on the bank of a tiny lake, the monk 
clapped his hands, and then threw a handful of parched 
corn into the water. In an instant the space before us 

91 



Kioto 

was filled with dozens of fish of all kinds, sucking and 
fighting, and making the water fairly boil in their efforts 
to reach the food. 

Before going to Kioto, we had been told that it was 
the Paris of Japan ; that, beautiful as the embroideries, 
the carvings, the porcelains of Yokohama and Tokyo had 
seemed to us, those of Kioto would surpass them, and 
that, unless our resolutions in regard to the amount of 
money to be expended were adamantine, we would leave 
the city financially ruined. But in this respect we were 
disappointed. The shops were filled with exquisite 
goods, to be sure, and when the sellers found that they 
had buyers who were willing to pay for good work, but 
declined to take an inferior article at any price, they 
brought forth from the go-downs veritable mountains of 
silk, satins, and damask, embroidered most beautifully, 
but differing from the displays in other cities only as to 
quantity — the quality and execution seemed to us the 
same. 



93 



Kobe 

Leaving Kioto at noon, four hours in a comfortable 
railway carriage brings one to Kobe. This was the 
first treaty port open to foreigners, and, as at Yokohama, 
the city is divided into the •• concession," where live 
the foreigners, and the '-Native town," Hiogo. The 
latter is dark, dirty, and entirely unprepossessing, while 
the former, with its broad, level streets, its modern 
houses, and air of cleanliness and prosperity, reminds one 
forcibly of parts of Dresden. 

Kobe is beautifully situated on a narrow plateau be- 
tween the mountains and the sea. Its harbor is large 
and safe, and much more attractive than the harbor of 
Yokohama. The mountains which rise a short distance 
behind the town are of volcanic origin, very oddly 
shaped, and covered with a luxuriant growth of trees and 
underbrush, which gives a peculiar softness to their 

95 



A Japanese Journey 



strange outlines. We spent a pleasant week there, and 
then bade farewell to its quiet streets and busy harbor, 
and settled ourselves down for our twenty hours journey 
back to Yokohama. 



96 



Nikko 

From the day of one's arrival in Japan, one begins 
insensibly to live toward Nikko. In each temple we 
enter, when a fine carving calls forth an exclamation of 
pleasure, the guide says, with a superior smile, " Yes, 
that is good, but wait until you see Nikko." From 
one's friends, from one's enemies, from one's tailor, 
from one's " butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker." 
comes the cry, k - Wait until you see Nikko," until one 
finally begins to talk about Nikko by day. and to 
dream of Nikko at night. We were told that we had 
made a great mistake in leaving Nikko for the last. 
If so, it was a mistake for which I shall always be 
grateful, though I am quite sure that nothing could 
ever dim my memories of the enchanting spot. Our 
first view of Nikko, however, was distinctly unpleasing. 
Leaving Yokohama shortly after noon, we travelled 

97 



A Japanese Journey 



through a most lovelv country, and as twilight fell we 
began to ascend the steep slope of the Nikkosan Moun- 
tains. Our absorption in the scenery was so great that 
the unusually rapid coming on of night was scarcely 
perceived, until attention was called to it with abrupt- 
ness and decision by a vivid flash of lightning, followed 
by a crash of thunder ; and when we alighted at the 
small station, it was to find a very lively thunder-storm 
in progress — rain in torrents, and almost incessant thun- 
der and lightning. 

We cowered together on a narrow bench outside the 
station, cold, wet, and miserable, and wished that we 
had not come to Xikko ! Presently the storm abated 
somewhat, so we decided to start for the hotel, which was 
a mile or more distant. We scrambled into our 'rikishas, 
the hood was pulled up and fastened, a cover of oiled 
paper was spread over our knees, and with three coolies 
to each 'rikiska. we sallied forth. That was just the 
chance the storm had been waiting for ! The rain almost 
ceased, as the demon who regulates the weather at Nikko 
threw his head back and took a long breath, and then 

98 



Nikko 

— words fail me ! It did not rain — no, all the waters 
in all the clouds in space seemed to have been piled up 
in one spot somewhere just above Nikko, and when the 
demon pulled the string, they fell in a solid mass that 
extinguished in a second our flimsy paper lanterns, bent 
the hoods of the 'rikishas in, wet us to the skin, and 
transformed the long, sloping main street of Nikko into 
a roaring torrent. The thunder and lightning were in- 
cessant and were blinding, deafening, and most terrify- 
ing — even to the coolies, accustomed as they are to the 
fierce storms of the mountains. But we kept on, the 
men calling and groaning as they pushed and dragged 
us up the steep hill, seeming to find their way by intui- 
tion, for the darkness between the flashes was the very 
blackness of darkness. The journey seemed endless, but 
at last we saw the gleam of an earthly light in the dis- 
tance, and we presently rumbled into the courtyard of 
the dear little Nikko hotel. A half-dozen gaily dressed 
little nesans rushed out to meet us, seized our bags and 
bundles, and bustled us off to our rooms. Then they 
vanished, to reappear in a few minutes, blushing and 

99 



A Japanese Journey 



giggling, and staggering under the weight of our trunks, 
which they carried swung from a pole resting on the 
shoulders. And when, an hour later, we found ourselves 
warm, dry, and " comforted with food and wine," we 
could look back to that horrible trip up as after all not so 
bad ! 

The meaning of the word Nikko is " Sun's Brightness," 
and despite our stormy experience on arriving, when we 
awoke the next morning we could not but feel that the 
title was well deserved. Our sleep was sound, as may 
be imagined, and it was some hours after sunrise when 
I threw open the shutters and stepped out on the balcony 
encircling the second story of the hotel. The day was 
cloudless and warm, filled with a thousand sweet spring 
odors, and the penetrating, damp fragrance of the rain- 
soaked grass. Across the valley rose the graduated slopes 
of the Nikkosan Mountains, covered with a growth of 
tenderest green, and looking a fit habitation for the hosts 
of sprites and fays with which the Japanese fairy tales 
people them. 

Through the heart of the valley rushed and roared the 

ioo 



Nikko 

swollen torrent of the Diagawa River, and in the imme- 
diate foreground was the garden of the hotel, with its 
miniature lake and island, its liliputian summer-house, 
walks, and winding ways. We made but a hasty break- 
fast, so great was our eagerness to be off, and directly 
after it we started on our pilgrimage to the temple and 
mausoleum of Iyamitsu. There are only two temples 
and two mausoleums at Nikko, but they are more beau- 
tiful than all the other temples in Japan put together, 
and would more than repay the traveller for the long 
journey, even though he saw nothing else in the coun- 
try. 

Shogun Iyayasu was the founder of Tokyo, and was 
in the height of his power as military ruler when the 
country which he governed was in the golden age of her 
artistic life. He was the first Shogun to be buried at 
Nikko, and his grandson Iyamitsu was the only other to 
achieve a like distinction. To beautify the temples and 
burial-places of these two great warriors, all that there was 
of richest and rarest in Japan was showered upon them, 
and the genius and talent of the greatest artists and arti- 

IOI 



Nikko 

sans were called forth to dispose these treasures suitably, 
and the result is certainly a dream of beauty. 

On starting out, one of the party was carried in a kind 
of throne mounted on poles, and borne on the shoulders 
of four men, while the rest of us made our way on foot. 
The way to the tomb of Iyamitsu, which, as it was the 
less gorgeous of the two, was visited first, is up a flight 
of shallow, moss-covered stone steps, shaded by huge 
cryptomerias and maples, and ending at a broad plateau 
surrounded by temples. From this plateau starts the 
famous avenue of cryptomerias. which was formerly the 
royal road to Nikko, which goes straight as an arrow to 
Imachi, twelve miles away, and is lined on either sick- 
by superb trees. Having waited a moment to regain our 
breath, and to allow our queen to descend from her 
throne, we passed through a carved gateway into the 
lower court of the temple. At the right was a carved and 
gilded pavilion. Under this was a square basin of stone. 
into which water, cold as ice and clear as crystal, flowed 
from the mouth of a bronze dragon. So exact is the hol- 
lowing out of this basin that the water overflows all four 



A Japanese Journey 



sides with absolute evenness, and one feels as though 
gazing at a solid block of marble. Having drunk at 
this sacred fountain, we turned and ascended the lichen- 
covered, fern-fringed stone steps which are at the left of 
the court, and after several turns found ourselves at the 
doorway of the temple. It is absolutely impossible to give 
in detail the beauties of this building. I do not believe 
that a person exists who could convey in words an ade- 
quate idea of its beauties. When the present Emperor 
came to the throne, and Shintoism became the national 
religion, he removed from the other and larger temple all 
the symbols of the Buddhist faith, substituting in their 
stead the meaningless round mirror and paper-topped 
sticks of Shintoism. But the temple of Iyamitsu was 
spared, and there remain in all their glory the superb 
lacquer boxes, the silk-bound drums, the gongs, the brass 
and silver flags, the huge gilt lotus blossoms in their 
bronze vases, the tall stork and turtle candlesticks, the 
gold, brass, bronze and red, all the panoply and trap- 
pings used by the grand old worshippers of Buddha. 
Here are found scattered with unsparing hand old 

104 



Nikko 

cloisonne, the art of making which is lost forever, gold 
lacquer worth many times its own weight, paintings and 
carvings by masters of the arts, silks and brocades labori- 
ously woven and embroidered by hand, rare metals and 
precious stones, fashioned by cunning fingers into shapes 
of imperishable beauty. Riches succeed riches, until 
one emerges at last dazed and bewildered, and glad to 
rest the eye upon the soft greens and grays of the court- 
yard. The tomb of Iyamitsu stands in a cryptomeria 
grove above the temple, and is extremely simple and plain. 
From this spot we descended by a winding path to 
a temple, where a few discreetly bestowed coins enabled 
us to assist at a Shinto service and dance. With much 
solemnity we were conducted to a row of chairs at the 
right of the altar. The latter consists of a low square table 
on which rest the sacred mirror (a round disk of polished 
brass), flanked on either side by a brass vase, one con- 
taining a plain wooden wand, the other a bunch of paper 
fastened to a silk-covered stick. The four sides of the 
temple were, as usual, open to the winds of heaven. 
The officiating priests were two. attired alike in green 

ios 



Nikko 

and blue robes, and tall conical caps of brown. They 
were assisted by a priestess, who was dressed in an un- 
der-garment of red silk, over which fell a robe of finest 
white crepe embroidered with wistaria, and who had a 
sort of white crepe handkerchief picturesquely tied over 
her satiny black hair. When we were finally seated the 
second priest squatted in front of an oblong drum and 
began to beat slowly. At the sound, the head priest 
emerged from behind a curtain hanging at the side of 
the altar, knelt before the mirror, bowed, clapped his 
hands, and rolled out a long and sonorous prayer : then 
he arose, took the paper-fringed stick, and turning toward 
us waved it over our heads. This our guide told us was 
to purify us and make us worthy of witnessing the rest 
of the ceremony. Then came more bowing and prayers, 
at the conclusion of which the head-priest retired to a 
place by the side of his subordinate, and the priestess came 
forward. She held in one hand a long black wand, and 
in the other a sort of magnified baby's rattle of silver. 
The sacred dance consisted of slow steps backward and 
forward, stately bows to right and left, and many pros- 

107 



A Japanese Journey 



strations before the altar, accompanied by the sharp 
jingle of the rattle and the monotonous roll of the drum. 
Having finished, the priestess retired to her cushion, and 
the head priest rising, beckoned us to follow him. We 
crossed a narrow passage, went up some narrow steps, 
and then were required to kneel before an inner shrine. 
There the priest reverently uncovered to our view a 
small silver snake, representing the patron saint ; gave 
us sacred sake from a sacred bowl, and insisted upon our 
nibbling at a sacred cake. Then he waved his hands 
over us, praying all the gods to give us long life and 
happiness ; we slowly arose to our feet and the ceremony 
was over. 

It was well that a night intervened between our visits 
to the two great temples, for to see them both in one 
day would be too much for any mind to absorb and 
digest. 

The approaches to the two are much alike, and both 
have stone-paved courtyards in front of them. But it 
would take weeks and months of constant study to master 
all that there is to be seen of their beauty. The court 

1 08 



Nikko 

leading to the temple of Iyayasu is enclosed by a wooden 
wall, every inch of which is carved and painted, and hav- 
ing in its centre a gateway which might well be termed 
the eighth wonder of the world, so exquisitely is it 
wrought. At one side of this gateway is a piece of carv- 
ing purposely inserted upside down, the builder having a 
superstitious fear that a work so perfect would call down 
the wrath of the gods. This temple, as 1 have said, has 
been shorn of its Buddhist beauties, but enough remains 
in the way of carving, painting, etc., to make it a never- 
forgotten vision of beauty. Gateways, carvings, gold, 
silver, bronze and lacquer, brocade and embroidery, 
cloisonne, and satsuma, stone, and bronze lanterns, 
moss-covered stairway hung with fringes of dew-gemmed 
ferns, lofty torii of copper and gilt, succeeded each other 
in swift succession, until we were fain to cry " Hold : 
enough ! the mind and brain can stand no more." 

And then we turned aside from all this magnificence, 
and made our way up the mossy stairway to the quiet 
grove, where lie the mortal remains of the man for 
whom all this beauty came into being. Iyayasu' s ashes 

109 



Nikko 

rest in a plain bronze cenotaph, inscribed with his name 
in brass characters. An incense burner and two tall 
stork candlesticks stand in front of it. a solid stone 
fence surrounds it. and it is guarded on all sides by those 

O J 

tall and stately sentinels, the cryptomerias. The soft 
rustle of their swaying branches, the startled cry of a 
rook, the distant murmur of some mountain torrent, are 
the only sounds that break the stillness. It is a strange 
and solemn silence which enfolds the resting-place of 
that grand old soldier, who must sleep sweetly here after 
the battles and bloodshed of his busy life. 

We left Nikko most reluctantly after a stay of only 
three days, where we could have gladly spent as many 
weeks, and returned to Yokohama with only a week be- 
fore us in which to complete our final preparations for 
departure. The last few days were hurried — chaotic — a 
whirl of last things, bills, farewell calls, and packing. 
and then came the very last day of all — the last 'rikisha 
race down the Bund, so strange to us three months ago, 
and now as familiar as the best-known sight at home, 
the hurried embarkation on the tug, the puffing and bust- 

1 1 1 



A Japanese Journey 



ling out to the great white Empress, riding at her anchor- 
age amid-stream. 

Many of our friends were there to see us off, and our 
cabins were redolent with flowers. A short hour of fare- 
wells ensued, then came the signal '-All ashore," the last 
strong hand clasps from those we had grown to know 
and like so well, then the screw turned — slowly at first, 
then at full speed, and as twilight fell the last shadowy 
outlines of beautiful Fujiyama melted imperceptibly into 
the soft clouds, and with eyes half filled with regretful 
tears we said sayonara to Japan. 



T 12 



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